[Unfortunately YouTube has been rather random with the countries in which this video has been blocked, despite other uploads of the same recording being available ... so read on for info about this performance, and hopefully you can find another link, or listen to your own CD of this amazing performance]

On this day, Dinu Lipatti gave his final public appearance when he played a very moving recital at the third International Besançon Festival, on September 16, 1950.

The pianist was extremely ill with Hodgkin's Disease at the time, and came very close to cancelling the concert but insisted on playing. He was receiving injections in a room off the side of the stage between works and managed to get through most of the recital, but he was unable to play the last of the 14 Chopin Waltzes he had programmed. He died two and a half months later.

After the first publication of the 2 Schubert Impromptus from this recital in a 5-disc Columbia set (FCX 491-495) issued in 1955 for the 5th anniversary of the pianist's death, the recital was issued in the US on EMI’s Angel label (Angel 3556 B) and on French Columbia (33FCX 698-699) in early 1957. The international branches of EMI were reluctant to issue the live performance, which largely featured repertoire already recorded in the studio by Lipatti in better sound, but the set was so critically acclaimed – it was the cover feature of the 27 April 1957 issue of the Saturday Review magazine in the US – that it was soon after released internationally on EMI (33CX 1499-1500) and has been lauded as one of the most important classical recordings ever issued.

Missing from the records was Lipatti’s failed attempt at beginning the last Waltz he had programmed and the Bach he played afterwards. It has now come to light that Lipatti may have played as many as three Bach encores: the Bach-Hess ‘Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring’, the Bach-Kempff ‘Siciliano’, and one of his own arrangements, likely the Malinconico from a Pastorale he had recently transcribed. Testimonials by surviving attendees of the concert as to the number of encores have been inconsistent, but a contemporary newspaper account speaks of three Bach encores. The recital was not transmitted live because of fears around Lipatti’s health so it is unclear if that part of the performance was ever broadcast and if a recording exists.

There is surviving unissued audio from the recital that includes Lipatti’s exquisitely beautiful ‘preluding’ arpeggios to the Schubert and Chopin, which are not included on the records (for unknown reasons, given that the applause and preluding before the Bach and Mozart were released), as well as extra moments of applause and ambient noise. Unfortunately, most CD reissues of the recital have left out the preluding found on the LP and some applause. The performance as issued here is what was found on the original 1957 LP set.

The program:

Bach: Partita No.1 in B-Flat Major, BWV 825
Mozart: Piano Sonata No.8 in A Minor, K 310
Schubert: Two Impromptus D.899
- No.3 in G-Flat Major
- No.2 in E-Flat Major
Chopin: 13 Waltzes
- No.5 in A-Flat Major Op.42
- No.6 in D-Flat Major Op.64 No.1
- No.9 in A Major Op.69 No.1
- No.7 in C-Sharp Minor Op.64 No.2
- No.11 in G-Flat Op.70 No.1
- No.10 in B Minor Op.69 No.2
- No.14 in E Minor Op.Posth
- No.3 in A Minor Op.34 No.2
- No.4 in F Major Op.34 No.3
- No.12 in F Minor Op.70 No.2
- No.13 in D-Flat Major Op.70 No.3
- No.8 in A-Flat Major Op.64 No.3
- No.1 in E-Flat Op.18

It is worth noting that the order of the waltzes here is different than that of the commercial 78s and LPs, though both that version and this live performance are not in chronological order but another sequence of Lipatti's choosing. The pianist stated that because Chopin's Waltzes were not written as a set but rather over an extended period of time, when playing them together it made more sense to present them in a different order. The sequence on the commercial recording was most likely impacted by the length of the original 78rpm records, whereas there would have been no such constraints in this concert performance.

The images shown in the video are:

Bach - the concert program of Lipatti's recital, as reproduced in the original LP set
Mozart - a picture taken the morning of the recital as Lipatti rehearsed in the Salle de Parliament
Schubert and Chopin - two images that local photographer Michel Meusy had taken of Lipatti during the course of the recital.

Lipatti plays a Gaveau piano in this performance ... See more

A transfer of the legendary 2-LP set of the great Romanian pianist Dinu Lipatti's final public concert appearance, at the third International Besançon Festiv...

A fascinating collection of the earliest recording of Chopin's "Black Key" Etude Op.10 No.5 played by six great historic pianists. These acoustic recordings (where the sound of the instrument was amplified by a cone-shaped horn as opposed to a microphone) do not capture the full tonal and dynamic range of these artists as recordings made in subsequent years but there is nevertheless some very personal and insightful playing that is discernible here. It is worth noting that these performances surely do not capture these famous artists at their best - there are on-the-record (no pun intended) statements that indicate that Busoni and others hated the recording process, and those who heard Godowsky state that his discs do him scant justice. But - a fascinating comparison nonetheless.

Whose version do you prefer, and why?

In chronological order.

1. Aleksander Michałowski (1851-1938), rec. 1905
2. Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969), rec. 1908
3. Vladimir de Pachmann (1848-1933), rec. 1911
4. Édouard Risler (1873-1929), rec. 1917
5. Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938), rec. 1922
6. Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), rec. 1922 ... See more

Frédéric Chopin's "Black Key" Etude, opus 10/5, played by 6 great historic pianists. Acoustic recordings in chronological order. 1. Aleksander Michałowski (1...

A 1961 concert recording of Jascha Spivakovsky playing the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.4 in G Major Op.58.

This is part of a complete recording from an ABC Radio studio broadcast in Melbourne made on January 7, 1961 with the Victorian State Orchestra conducted by Clive Douglas, now available on Pristine Classical together with a 1953 broadcast of the Emperor Concerto.

The circumstances surrounding this reading are rather remarkable and moving: this is the first performance Spivakovsky gave after the surgery that nearly killed him a mere six weeks earlier, the pianist leaving his sickbed for the first time when his son drove him to the studio for the rehearsal and performance. Listening to the recording, one would never know that he had been ailing or had not practiced since his surgery, nor that there had been only one run-through, just prior to the actual broadcast.

The excellent sound of this broadcast captures to perfection the crystalline piano tone praised by legendary critic Neville Cardus, and Spivakovsky plays throughout with exquisite clarity and subtle pedalling (this second movement is divine) in a reading that combines refined nuancing and dynamic layers with earthy robustness. ... See more

A 1961 concert recording of Jascha Spivakovsky playing the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.4 in G Major Op.58. This is part of a complete re...

Artur Schnabel in a lovely mid-1940s reading of Mozart's Piano Sonata No.12 in F Major K332, with a gorgeous rich sonority, a soaring singing line, robust accenting, and beautifully coordinated articulation.

W.A. Mozart Piano Sonata No. 12 in F major, K 332 I. Allegro 0:00 II. Adagio 4:39 III. Allegro assai 10:02 Artur Schnabel (1882-1951), piano Rec. 1946/47

Proof that Myra Hess was a far more fiery pianist than her studio discs would indicate (she admitted to hating the recording process): a terrific 1949 Illinois performance (released on the APR label) of Chopin's Fantasie in F Minor Op.49. Beautiful lyrical phrasing with long legato lines and poised voicing, together with some remarkably impassioned sections and massive fortissimos!

live, 1949